Phazon Chronicles: Echoes
by XenArgon
Summary: The first section in the story of Dark Samus. Having just become a humanoid, she is still trying to figure everything out.
1. Memories of the Crater

I was finally able to float up to the rim of the massive crater. From my vantage point, the edge was on the horizon -- it actually WAS the horizon! Fifty years of my life, I had been trapped there by the Space Pirates. They gave me Phazon, which was good, but they never let me see the outside world. All these memories came to me, just by standing at the rim of the crater. I thought of those days where nothing seemed to happen and time seemed to slow. And then there were the days -- and nights, where countless alarms went off and lights flashed and sirens screamed. And then there was Samus. Why, I do thank her for setting me free, but what I don't understand is why she had to almost kill me!

My thoughts continued to flow for quite a while until I realized that that was the past. I am no longer Metroid Prime, and I don't need to recall any memories because they don't matter anymore. So then I turned around and walked away, leaving my previous life behind me.


	2. Exploration

I walked, not really thinking about anything. I just observed. I walked around Tallon Overworld, and saw its unmatched beauty. Never before had I seen such colors… Plants flourished and animals were among them. Even the forest floor was bustling with life, from the fungi to the minute insects that I never saw but knew were there. I looked. And listened. I took my helmet off and felt the rain on my face, cold but refreshing. I looked at the sky, the beautiful clouds which left the perfect amount of rain and just enough sun.

One room was particularly striking. It was a seemingly normal room, ledges and doors and bridges made from old trees. However, in its center were three markings on the ground where soil had been upturned. Around the area, grass clung to the ground, all of the blades pointing away from the mysterious markings. I switched to my thermal visor to see that the ground was still warm. Along with that, the air in the room had a heat signature, too. It was then that it hit me: This was where Samus' ship was…

Over the next few days, I explored around Magmoor Caverns. It was quite hot, but I endured it. After just a few rooms, I came into one particularly large room. In the center, there was a giant structure with pathways that led to other rooms. Before I could even figure out what it was, a stinging pain shot through my shoulder. It was then that I realized that the turrets were all shooting at me. I hid back behind the door from which I had previously come. Each time I emerged again, I shot a missile at one of the turrets, and one of them would hit me in the shoulder. Each time it felt worse than before. After I destroyed them, I proceeded to climb the giant structure. On its top, there were computer monitors. I scanned them and read about some Geothermal Project and whatnot. This was a Space Pirate base… Uncaring about the Space Pirates, I turned around -- and straight in front of me was a door. It was so inviting… I finally succumbed to it and walked through. An elevator awaited me, its hologram spinning.

In the next room, I suddenly realized how cold it had gotten. The walls of the closed tunnel were coated in ice. The tunnel opened up into one of the most elegant rooms I had ever seen. I had never seen snow before. I had to scan it to see what it was. It was so perfect and beautiful, a blanket of white powdery snow upon the ground. I regretted stepping in it. After having walked for quite a while through Tallon Overworld and Magmoor Caverns, I finally laid down in the snow of Phendrana and somehow fell asleep.


	3. Scylier

When I awoke the next day, I was quite surprised to see how much snow had fallen on top of me. Still only half awake, I walked through some other rooms, but none of them were very interesting. Suddenly, I walked into one room to see a collection of Space Pirates. This place was a bridge of some sort. When I entered the room, they all immediately started attacking me. Strangely, I actually recognized one of the Pirates. I scanned him. Unfortunately, I had to kill all of the other Pirates before I could worry about him. In the whole attack, I used about fifteen missiles, not counting the one Super Missile I used. The Pirate I recognized lay dead on the ground with a blank stare on his face. I still seemed to feel his gaze on me. The reason I recognized him became clear: On his chest, there was a large scar which looked like some scratch. It glowed blue. I pressed my hand to it, and felt the Phazon radiation emanating from it. I was able to fully scan him this time.

Scylier had been part of the First Division for three years after his initial training before being transferred over to the Science Team. From there, he was part of Project Omega. He became the organizer for Project Omega before the Attack of 20x7.

One particular day, Metroid Prime had broken through its walls and was absorbing Phazon from the Omega Pirate rations. It took many Pirates to fully pacify it and bring it back to its room. In the process, four different Pirates had been scratched by Prime; Scylier, Halley, Chondra, and Krielman. The four had been put in quarantine until it was discovered that their different gashes -- and the resulting corruption -- were not contagious and were benign. After that, Scylier was taken off of Project Omega and was put on Phazon research. He had been guarding the bridge for approximately ten minutes before I showed up.

I looked down at Scylier and felt sorry for him. I remember my attack as Metroid Prime. I remember being just… panicked… I remember that I scratched one Pirate on his face. I wondered where he was and what he was thinking. I walked on, thinking about those four Pirates.


	4. Frigate

"That seems about it."

"Alright then. Close the doors."

I breathed a sigh of relief. Except that I was in Morph Ball, so I couldn't really.

I had to get off of Tallon IV. I had to avenge my death, but that meant I would have to follow Samus. I didn't know where she was, but the first step was getting away from here. The way I did this was quite bizarre. I had curled up into the Morph Ball -- in a small canister of Phazon. The Space Pirates unknowingly took me onto the cargo deck on a ship headed for some planet named Aether.

Once I heard the definite thud of the doors closing, I tried a Morph Ball Bomb, but the canister was only dented slightly. I became slightly panicked, but I was able to keep calm. I tried a Power Bomb. The canister was split at all its seams. I had been freed. I uncurled from Morph Ball and immediately jumped up on the giant crates. If the Space Pirates were going to attack me, I wanted the advantage. I looked around in the cargo deck. Twice I rounded a corner to see a Pirate, but thankfully neither were had been facing me. I ended up settling by a corner on top of a very large crate. I would have to stay hidden in the cargo deck until the ship landed on Aether.

I sat on the giant crate, wondering how long this trip would be, when I overheard two Space Pirates talking.

"So what did they say about the portals again?"

"They said that some of the portals would only be one way."

"And that means?"

"That if you're accidentally sucked into the Dark World, you're screwed."

"That's nice."

"Yeah, I know. But they said something about the Dark World's correlation with Phazon."

"Well, Dark Aether WAS created from a Levia--"

"--Which means that they're bringing Halley over."

"Halley! You mean, the Halley from…?"

"20x7. They say that he can see through the eyes of Phazon. And if all this Portal stuff has to do with Phazon, wouldn't you think that Halley would be the one to know about it?"

"Yeah…"

What did all of this mean? What Portal to what Dark World? Why was Aether so important? The Pirates continued talking, and I ignored them until a third Pirate came running to them and said, "One of the Metroids broke free and they don't know where it went! Come on!" They all ran off after the third Pirate.

Metroid. The one word I understood. The one thing I loved just as much as Phazon. The Metroids I knew of; they were my children. And that, of course, was the moment it appeared. It floated gracefully about now that the Space Pirates were gone. It was transparent, so that the cold artificial light passed right through it but was turned green. It had three nuclei in its center, with veins that branched from them and lined its surface. It stared at me. Even though it had no eyes, I knew it was staring at me. This was the only creature I had ever understood; I was one of them. Yes, I am a humanoid now, but the previous fifty years I was one of them. I floated in the air just as it did. It made little clicking noises, floated higher into the air, and floated away. I sank back down onto the ground. How can a creature so beautiful be hated? How can Phazon be hated?

How can I be hated?


	5. Attack

I had been hiding in the Pirate Frigate for a few days. I was so bored that I started talking to the Metroid that had broken out. I told it about Tallon Overworld and Magmoor Caverns and Phendrana Drifts. I was in the process of explaining what snow was when the entire Frigate shook. Not two seconds later, I heard Pirates yelling, "We're under attack!" I listened, trying to figure out who was attacking. I was extremely careful not to bring any attention to myself; if the Frigate crashes, I die too, and I didn't want to be a distraction from the state of the ship. Several Pirates ran by the crates, and I stayed hidden. The Metroid stayed by my side. It didn't _seem_ afraid, even though I knew it was. The ground seemed to drop under me. For a split second, I felt weightless until the ground was thrown back up at me. Luckily, I had been standing.

Suddenly, one of the ceiling lights burst, sending down a shower of sparks. Many of those sparks hid the Metroid. It shrieked. Unfortunately, some of the Pirates heard its cry, and looked towards the corner where we were. Two of the Pirates started climbing on the crates. I hid as close to the corner as I could to avoid being seen. They didn't see me, but they saw the Metroid. Suddenly, one of the Pirates, distinguished by white markings, shot at the Metroid, and only a block of ice remained hovering. I watched with a mix of horror and fear. They were so close to seeing me…

The Frigate shook again. This time, it kept shaking. I didn't know what was going on, and I didn't have the slightest idea of what was going to happen, and that scared me. The ship started to tilt. The Pirates started yelling even louder than before, but I didn't even want to know what they were saying. Suddenly, the ship must have hit something because I was thrown against the wall. I wasn't able to find out what happened next because I had fallen unconscious.


	6. A Forgotten Past?

It took quite a while for me to wake up again. The first thing I noticed was that the floor was covered in Phazon. Well, that's nice, I thought. The next thing I noticed was that I was in a Space Pirate containment unit. I sighed. Getting out of here would be easy. I just… didn't… want to...

I heard the undeniable cry of a Metroid. I suddenly came to full attention. I stood up and looked through the glass to see other containment units - each holding a Metroid. But these Metroids… were different… They just seemed to emanate Phazon energy. Also, the Metroids had been agitated; they were bright red. How dare they, I thought. How dare they hurt my Metroids. I stood up, intending to break out of my cell. Suddenly I felt very lightheaded and dizzy. The room got brighter as well, so I sat down again.

Somewhere else in the room, glass broke.

A Metroid drifted gracefully by, but stopped and looked at me. It started clicking and hissing at me, but I didn't know what it meant. Was I supposed to know? It shrieked, and, one by one, other Metroids broke out of their own cells and gathered in front of me. Suddenly they all charged toward me at once, so instinctively I pressed myself against the back wall. When the glass of my cell broke, I expected the Metroids to attack me for some reason, but instead they just kept floating. One Metroid came towards me, so I pointed my gun at it.

"I don't want to kill you!" I said to it, hoping to get some sort of response.

"Uetnycht dqei?"

I was shocked by this. I put my gun down. "…What?"

Another Metroid came forward and said "Lazn kjesct neiyth zaght svychx!"

I felt so stupid. These were my Metroids, my own children, and I couldn't understand what they were saying to me! But that one word…

Svychx…

What did it mean?

I stood up and walked away, pushing the other Metroids gently out of my way as I went, regardless of how dizzy I was.


	7. Escape to the Sky

The Space Pirates are truly unforgiving creatures. They all seemed to be after me. Each time I entered a room, there were Space Pirates there, ready to kill me. They are, however, unbelievably weak. It doesn't take much at all to kill them.

I stood in the large room, looking frantically to make sure there were no Pirates on the upper level about to attack me. I assured myself that there were none, but the Elite Pirate in the corner still made me wary. I walked up to the large collection of computers in the center of the room. I scanned all of them and proceeded to sit in a corner and read through them all.

This planet… is called Aether?

It has a dark twin? How?

I kept on reading through the logs. One in particular interested me.

"28.34.07

It appears as if the Hunter has infiltrated our base. However, we think it may not actually be her. She does not go out of her way to attack us, but she simply absorbs any Phazon she can find, which seems very strange, especially for her. We will continue to investigate"

I hated them. How could they mistake me for Samus? How dare they. You should be able to tell I'm not her by my Phazon-based suit, my Phazon-based attacks, and my Phazon-based intentions, I thought.

None of the other logs were nearly as interesting to me, so I continued through the base to try to find my way out. Everything seemed to become a blur to me. I wasn't even trying to get out, I was just… going. Walking until I found an exit. How long this would take, I did not know, but I was sure it wasn't going to be anytime soon. I stood, waiting for the door in front of me to open. When I heard the whoosh that it makes when it opens, I looked through the door to see the sky above.


End file.
